I know this tourney well, played it basically every night before black Friday.

With AA in the hijack and a limper in front of me, I'm going to make a standard raise to 3BB+1BB for each limper or 80 chips.

I see a 4-way flop of J77 and the first opp leads into me with a pot-sized bet. Early in this, Jx and 7x are the overwhelming majority of their range here, along with having 2 overs or T9 or 98 for a gutshot. Against this range, while I'm ahead of it, I'm not an overwhelming favorite (2-1). Due to it being early, I'm going to flat the 321 and re-evaluate on the turn.

I don't want to shove the flop here, as I'm basically only going to get called by 7x, Jx or an overpair. Against that range, I'm barely more than a coin-flip ahead at 57%.

Due to the paired board, I need to play pot control here and muck to a shove with AA, as it will most likely be from trips or better.

With regard to AK or AQ, while it's a small part of their range, it's not the largest part of their range, as that larger part is Jx, 7x.

I put the opp at AK/AQ and shoved, is not considering him holding JJ there a leak?

I'm pretty surprised to see villain show up with JJ here. (I would typically expect him to check-call or check-raise when he so comprehensively smashed the flop). That said, I would be completely SHOCKED if villain had AK/AQ here. Those hands would make absolutely no sense for three main reasons:

1. You have two aces in your hand, so there are fewer combos of AK and AQ that are possible.
2. Villain just flatted OOP pre-flop, when 3-betting AK/AQ would be more standard.
3. AK and AQ completely missed the flop. It would be utterly senseless to donk pot with ace high into 3 players, since it would be a huge bluff that is getting snap-called by 7x, Jx and QQ+.

I know villains do some crazy things at nanostakes, but you've got to improve your hand ranging. If a villain makes a big bet, it's usually because he has a big hand and he wants to get paid. On a J77 flop, the only big hands are those that contain a 7 or a jack, as John pointed out. Start ranging players pre-flop and then narrow their ranges based on the action. If they call pre-flop, then pocket pairs and Broadways are their most likely holdings. If they bet a Jxx flop, they usually have a JACK, obviously. If you can beat a jack, then call. Don't raise unless you're pretty sure villain will call with worse.

As played, I'm caling the flop, and probably sigh-calling off the rest on the turn, expecting villain to have trips quite often, but also seeing a fair amount of KJ/QJ hands, which you beat.

I know this tourney well, played it basically every night before black Friday.

With AA in the hijack and a limper in front of me, I'm going to make a standard raise to 3BB+1BB for each limper or 80 chips.

I see a 4-way flop of J77 and the first opp leads into me with a pot-sized bet. Early in this, Jx and 7x are the overwhelming majority of their range here, along with having 2 overs or T9 or 98 for a gutshot. Against this range, while I'm ahead of it, I'm not an overwhelming favorite (2-1). Due to it being early, I'm going to flat the 321 and re-evaluate on the turn.

I don't want to shove the flop here, as I'm basically only going to get called by 7x, Jx or an overpair. Against that range, I'm barely more than a coin-flip ahead at 57%.

Due to the paired board, I need to play pot control here and muck to a shove with AA, as it will most likely be from trips or better.

With regard to AK or AQ, while it's a small part of their range, it's not the largest part of their range, as that larger part is Jx, 7x.

Hope this helps and good luck at the tables.

John (JWK24)

Thanks John, just flat then fold to his shove. I feel like I want to re raise there for information (damn AA) & fold to a shove even before the Turn but that's not a reason to bet.

I'm pretty surprised to see villain show up with JJ here. (I would typically expect him to check-call or check-raise when he so comprehensively smashed the flop). That said, I would be completely SHOCKED if villain had AK/AQ here. Those hands would make absolutely no sense for three main reasons:

1. You have two aces in your hand, so there are fewer combos of AK and AQ that are possible.
2. Villain just flatted OOP pre-flop, when 3-betting AK/AQ would be more standard.
3. AK and AQ completely missed the flop. It would be utterly senseless to donk pot with ace high into 3 players, since it would be a huge bluff that is getting snap-called by 7x, Jx and QQ+.

I know villains do some crazy things at nanostakes, but you've got to improve your hand ranging. If a villain makes a big bet, it's usually because he has a big hand and he wants to get paid. On a J77 flop, the only big hands are those that contain a 7 or a jack, as John pointed out. Start ranging players pre-flop and then narrow their ranges based on the action. If they call pre-flop, then pocket pairs and Broadways are their most likely holdings. If they bet a Jxx flop, they usually have a JACK, obviously. If you can beat a jack, then call. Don't raise unless you're pretty sure villain will call with worse.

As played, I'm caling the flop, and probably sigh-calling off the rest on the turn, expecting villain to have trips quite often, but also seeing a fair amount of KJ/QJ hands, which you beat.

Early in this tourney, I have seen lots of players over bet/shove AK on a scary flop like that in hope I suppose. This time I did take a min off to range him preflop but people call 3x raises with any 2 cards esp. this early and (damn AA) I did not put him past KJ. Or more honestly, did not want to believe he had JJ against my AA on that flop.

I can't fold pocket Aces basically, in a SNG on FT I knew the guy was raising the River cause his AQ had made the straight but I paid him off too. This is hard.

Raising for information is a leak. You should raise for value (when you believe worse hands will call) or as a bluff (when you believe better hands will fold). If you're either way ahead or way behind, the best play is to just call.
For a fuller explaniation of why raising for info is a leak, see Dave's blog.

Getting PokerStars is easy: download and install the PokerStars game software, create your free player account, and validate your email address. Clicking on the download poker button will lead to the installation of compatible poker software on your PC of 51.7 MB, which will enable you to register and play poker on the PokerStars platform. To uninstall PokerStars use the Windows uninstaller: click Start > Control Panel and then select Add or Remove programs > Select PokerStars and click Uninstall or Remove.